Torrey Jumps the Shark

Strange doings in La Jolla this weekend, so let's settle in to unpack them.  Again I offer my incisive commentary without the benefit of actually having seen any much of the play, catching only the final threesome playing the 18th after skiing. 

• Tiger's play took a sudden detour, from middling and uninspired to 20 handicapper territory, beginning with back-to-back double bogeys on No. 18 and No. 1, leading to Tiger having his Sunday free to spend more time with his family. 

• For those keeping score at home, the only higher score posted in competition by the Striped One was his 81 at the Open Championship in 2002, when his Grand Slam hopes were head-butted by a wee Scottish storm.  He's had three previous 79's on his resume, most recently at last year's Memorial (ironically a course that he similarly "owns").  And this 79 featured a mini-rally to avoid an 80, including a chip-in and 8-foot putt to save par on his last two holes.

• Tiger went seven straight holes making bogey or worse.  I don't know why that's such a big deal, even I've done that.

• But at least we learned a new acronym, the dreaded MDF.  For those not conversant in the native tongue of Commissioner Ratched Finchem, that's Made Cut, Did Not Finish.  It's apparently been in effect for some time, used to limit the final round field in cases where too many make the 36 hole cut.  As is typical, a tree falling in the forest makes no noise unless it lands on Tiger.

• The course set-up has been a fertile conversation topic (fertile...heh, get it?), primarily related to the extremely dense rough around the greens.  Shackelford goes on one of his patented rants in this post at Golf Digest's Local Knowledge blog, as per the excerpt below:

Tiger Woods missed the Saturday cut, prompted by the high number of players who made it to the weekend. Phil Mickelson's back locked-up hitting out of the thick stuff, leading to his withdrawal. Worst of all, the first network Saturday telecast of 2014 was a total bore. (Oh, and it took them 5 hours and 30 minutes for the leaders to finish 18 holes on a windless, 70-degree day.)

I've been walking the course all week and while it's in tremendous condition and some key landing areas were wisely widened by the PGA Tour rules staff, the rough is just silly in places. It's one thing when it's chip-out rough throughout and the misery is widespread. But the worst stuff seems to be just off the fairways and just off the greens.

• Shack goes so far, in a post at his site, as to speculate that if this set-up is to be continued, that Tiger and other top names might give the event a miss.  

• This ties in with some thoughts I've had about the changing PGA Tour schedule.  I don't have time at present to expound at length, but my belief is that the ever-expanding PGA Tour schedule, 4 big money events at the end and a calendar that begins in October, creates a situation where something has to give.  And that something, it seems to me, has to be the West Coast Swing.  The players have to play the Florida swing, as it's the warm-up to the Masters, so any player looking for a few weeks off will be awfully tempted by this period on the Left Bank  (and we've already seen some players, such as Adam Scott, shutting it down until Florida).  Given that the West Coast involves such indignities as bumpy poa greens and iffy weather (not to mention 6-hour rounds with Ray Romano), it's logically the weak link.  But we're talking Torrey, Riviera and Pebble, places with actual history and architectural significance.  Wouldn't we want these events to maintain reasonably strong fields?  Just askin'.